The King In Yellow (The Book)
The King in Yellow is a 1895 collection of short stories by Robert W. Chambers. The book could be categorized as early horror fiction, but it also touches on fantasy, mystery, mythology, and science fiction. About The King in Yellow Factual Information The first edition of the book appeared in 1895. Stories Most of the stories are loosely connected by three main devices: *A fictional play in book-form entitled The King In Yellow *A mysterious and malevolent supernatural entity of the same name *An eerie emblem or symbol called The Yellow Sign The stories are macabre in tone. The most frequent setting is Paris and the central characters are usually decadents and artists. Those characters who read the play The King in Yellow go mad or meet horrible dooms. The stories in the book are as follows: The Repairer of Reputations This story is set in a 1920s that never was (the story was written in the 1890s), and is a tale told from the point of view of Hildred Costaine who, with the help of the 'Repairer of Reputations', Mr. Wilde, seeks to be claimed as The Last King of The Imperial Dynasty of America, and that his cousin Louis Castaigne stands in his way. The story reveals, over time, that Hildred has both read The King In Yellow and suffered a nasty fall, both of which are, it is suggested, in part way responsible for his delusions of grandeur and his attempts to ensure his ascension to the throne. The Mask The story revolves around three young friends, living in Paris: Alec, the narrator, a painter, Genevieve, with whom he is in love, and Boris Yvrain, her partner, a sculptor. Boris has somehow discovered the means to create a mysterious liquid that turns items plunged into it into marble representations of themselves. The story follows the tragic relationship of the three of them. Alec remembers, whilst in a moment of delerium, scenes and images from The King In Yellow. The Court of The Dragon This short story tells the tale of an un-named man who, whilst at church, reflects over The King In Yellow, only to be disturbed by the fearful nature of the organist. As he tries to escape the man and return home, he is pursued by this figure, only to awaken back at the church. Then, in a final twist, the narrator is brought back to the world of The King with a terrible vision. The Yellow Sign A story about the narrator, Mr. Scott, an artist, and his model Tessie, whose relationship becomes more intimate throughout the story. Tessie finds an ornate interpretation of The Yellow Sign and gives it to the narrator as a gift. Then later, when they mysteriously find a copy of The King In Yellow amongst his books, the two of them realise that The King is coming for them, and they are powerless to prevent him. The Demoiselle D'Ys The story of 'Philip, a Stranger' an American, who gets lost whilst hunting in Brittany, encounters The Demoiselle D'Ys (Jeanne), is invited back to the castle where she lives. whilst the two become close, it is clear to us, the reader, that this castle and those who live in it are strangers to the world Philip recognises, and at the end he returns to the world he knew, after a sudden attack by a snake. The Prophet's Paradise A collection of short prose pieces which, on first glance, might have nothing to do with the Yellow Mythos, but which draw on certain themes that have been mentioned in previous tales. The names of the eight pieces that make up The Prophet's Paradise are as follows; The Studio, The Phantom, The Sacrifice, Destiny, The Throng, The Jester, The Green Room, The Love Test. The Street of The Four Winds The first full story in the book to be written in the third person, this tale concerns an artist called Severn, who lives alone in Paris. We are introduced to him as he welcomes a cat into his home, who he talks to and feeds, before returning her to her mistress, 'Sylvia Elven,' where he finds her in darkness, in her bed, and waits with the cat purring in his lap, the sky turning pale. The Street of The Four Shells This story also has a Sylvia, and it's name is supiciously similar to the previous tale, and set once more in Paris. It features many characters first introduced in Robert W. Chamber's first novel In The Quarter, but has less in common with the rest of the Yellow Mythos. The Street of Our Lady of The Fields The last of the stories in the 'Street' trilogy, and the first of two that concerns the romantic pursuits of art students in Paris. Little or no connection to the Yellow Mythos, although they could, conceivably, co-exist in the same Paris. Rue Barree As with this previous tale, this tale concerns art students in Paris, with no mention of The King In Yellow. The Stories Online These two links take you to two different sites where the stories may be read online (or printed out) - the order of the stories is not necessarily the same order as it appears above. *The King in Yellow (site 1) *The King in Yellow (site 2) ''The King in Yellow'' and H. P. Lovecraft Lovecraft was influenced by Chamber's book, which he had read in his youth, to include a reference to The Yellow Sign in his short story "The Whisperer in Darkness" (1931), one of his seminal Cthulhu Mythos stories. August Derleth further developed this connection and tied the King in Yellow to Hastur. In later mythos materials, the King is an avatar of Hastur, so named from his appearance as a thin, floating man covered in tattered yellow robes. Lovecraft also borrowed Chamber's method of only vaguely referring to supernatural events, entities, and places, thereby allowing the reader to imagine the horror for themselves. ''The King in Yellow'' in other fiction * Some writers have attempted to write a full text for the fictional The King in Yellow, including James Blish ("More Light" 1970]) and Lin Carter ("Tatters of the King" [[1986 in literature|1986]]). * Karl Edward Wagner used it as a motif in his novella The River of Night's Dreaming. * Lawrence Watt-Evans adopted the name for a villainous character in a series of novels: The Lure of the Basilisk, The Seven Altars of Dusarra, The Sword of Bheleu, and The Book of Silence, collectively known as The Lords of Dus. * "The King in Yellow" is the name of a 1945 short story by Raymond Chandler. Category:Real World Fiction